New Pirates of the Caribbean movie leaked online after hackers fail to extort money

We just saw it happen to Netflix with the fifth season of Orange Is the New Black, and it looks like Disney was also hit by hackers. Digital thieves managed to steal one of Disney’s upcoming movies, and are now asking a huge ransom to be paid in Bitcoin. Otherwise, they’ll release the film in tiny increments ahead of its theatrical debut. The movie is believed to be Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, or the latest episode of the Pirates saga, due on May 26th.

With a few weeks left until the movie debuts, Disney is apparently not looking to pay the ransom. According to Deadline, Disney is working with the FBI on the matter.

The company would not confirm the title that was stolen, but Deadline learned that it was indeed the fifth Pirates movie. Disney, however, did confirm the incident happened, informing ABC employees during a town hall meeting in New York on Monday about the event.

It’s unclear at this time how hackers got their hands on a copy of the movie, and whether the attack is related in any way to the WannaCry ransomware that affected more than 300,000 computers in more than 150 countries since Friday. It’s not known whether Disney’s own computers were hit, or whether a smaller company may be to blame.

The four Pirates Of The Caribbean movies released so far grossed $3.72 at the box office, and the fifth episode is also expected to be a hit. It remains to be seen whether the hackers will release it early, and whether such an outcome would affect Disney’s bottom line.